Sorry for another Skyrim thread but I'm buying this on Steam for £5 more than the gamestation price and I get no map poster!!! Does no one else think this isn't fair?

Click to expand...

Fair? It would only be unfair if the price varies on the basis of your location, forcing you to pay more. What prevents you from buying on gamestation and then registering on Steam? You are not forced to pay the Steam price or forego the map.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why they buy new games on Steam?

Click to expand...

I used to think this too but few reasons include auto updates, in game chat with other steam friends, access your games ANYWHERE with internet, never lose/scratch them, play at midnight on release day without going out!

With the exception of those people who cannot obtain a physical copy of the media, what drives people to buy new games from Steam?

Click to expand...

I've got 12MB/s download, and live 50 minutes from the nearest games shop. the nearest games shop is a gamestop, which notoriously overcharges for everything. it IS cheaper to buy on steam than to pay for gas and take the time to drive out there, at the least it takes 1:30 out of my day - there are many games i can have downloaded in that time, and even if it takes longer it's not like i'm stuck driving , i can minimize and do something else.

also, steam isn't the only option. between steam, d2d and impulse, as well as cd keys sites, you can get deals on every game, you just have to take 2 minutes to look through stores before you buy.

and lastly - i am buying the new game. it's happening. i can either go through a whole bunch of hassle to save $10, or i can just click download. is it really that hard to understand the attraction?

Perhaps I have not made my sentiments clear, because the benefits you list are not what I have meant to contend with.

1) Those who cannot obtain the physical media. This extend to a location where physical media is either not available, or where obtaining the media is inherently too difficult. An hour and a half drive, in my opinion, falls under this.

2) Rarely is there a day 1 patch. Having auto patching on Steam is nice, but that feature doesn't matter on the first day unless there is day 1 patching.

3) Talking to friends can be done with a multitude of other applications, and is a feature of Steam. This feature may be nice, but it does not relate to buying the game from Steam on day 1.

4) 8 GB at 12MB/s is still 8000/12/16 = 11.11 minutes. Throw in the delay, because you'll never see that download rate, and you're at well over 20 minutes before everything is playable. I do believe that a game on disc can be installed in 20 minutes...

Apparently people read criticism, but not the note at the bottom. I enjoy Steam, like what the platform offers, and can run with that. What I can't see is having no physical media, and paying more for the features that I can get for free by linking a game to Steam.

Perhaps the biggest difference in our perspectives is that you take my statement that Steam day 1 purchases can be applied to all download sites. This is not what I said. If I could get a game for slightly less than retail price (due to a lack of physical media), without going out, then I would be all over it. As it stands the STEAM purchasing on day 1 make no sense.

i get your point, but you are arguing subjective opinion. whether someone wants to drive 5 minutes or wait an hour for a download, is a personal choice that isn't likely to have any logic behind it - at least not any that can be explained to someone else.

any person who answers your question will have an answer similar to mine. why it makes sense FOR THEM. the fact is, the points you make when the others are removed, are pretty inconsequential imo. and you can't just disregard reasons that people use it because you don't mean to contend with them - mean to or not they are the reasons.

keeping track of serials, no cds to ruin or lose, no need to go to a store or talk to people. i can think of a hundred little reasons - but again, everyone will have their own.

I bought it on Steam because I foolishly managed to miss two Newegg sales (though they don't even process until tomorrow much less ship apparently) and now it's already on my hard drive waiting and I don't have to screw around with any midnight release bullshit at Gamestop or what have you. Did not have a good experience attempting such with BF3.

Would've been nice to get the map but I would look at it for 5 minutes before folding it back up and putting it with the map of Oblivion to collect more dust.

I guess what I was looking for was a reason, other than "It's easier" for purchasing a game on day 1. I'd been hoping for some insight, beyond the usual reasoning. Apparently, this was off topic; my apologies for leading us in this direction and the ensuing discussion.

That said, perhaps we can drop this and get back to the original topic that I drug us away from.

I'm looking forward to Skyrim on day 3 or so. As others have stated, Newegg processing and shipping takes time. While I gave up on the excitement of day 1, I get a little over $10 off the price and physical media. In my experience, this is a fair enough trade given that this little time sink will be taking more than three days out of my life.

With the exception of those people who cannot obtain a physical copy of the media, what drives people to buy new games from Steam?

The games are not cheaper on Steam. In fact, my preorder and the OPs local retailer both cost less than on Steam.

The games don't release sooner. Downloading on Steam takes hours, and eats into bandwidth like crazy. Picking up a copy in store takes about five minutes at a register.

The games don't have less intrusive DRM. Several companies package their own DRM with the Steam platform DRM, so no easier usages there.

Physical games can be linked to a Steam account, meaning you have the benefits of Steam and a physical copy in the event of a prolonged Steam outage.

My only reasoning is that people can download certain games in advance, and play them right at the official release. The problem is that this is not the case.... so why?

Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why they buy new games on Steam?

Note: Before anyone takes this the wrong way, I mean brand new recently released titles. The older games on Steam can be an amazing deal, an I myself purchase these games frequently.

Click to expand...

1. Prices will vary and brick and mortar stores have recently started to offer launch day sales to compete with Online stores in the PC market. This is usually a gimmicky offer and not a real discount so often the prices are exactly the same. Where Steam shines it it offers special deals almost every day, while GameStop does not as they consider their used game selection a daily sale. While they do compete, you are more likely to get a good sale or deal from Steam before a GameStop or EB Games.

2. While the game is not released sooner, they allow you to download most games before release so you can spread the download out as needed. Then on release day you just need the decryption which takes 20 seconds. While buying a physical copy is relatively faster, installation of a game on a console is extremely time consuming because it is basically a PC from 6 years ago. Installing on your 5400 RPM PS3 hard drive of a game this size will take an hour and half. Me installing on from Steam is the same time it took to download it.

3. No one packages their own DRM through Steam. No one. It is against the Steam Usage agreement companies sign. In fact, this is why Battlefield 3 was not released through Steam because Valve would not budge about letting EA use their own DRM and not use the Steam DRM at all.

4. There hasn't been a prolonged Steam outage in years. Steam will go offline for 30 minutes to a hour on very rare occasions. If you are so addicted to a game you can't go eat a sandwich or watch a little TV or exercise for an hour, then you need to seek professional assistance. Besides how can you hold that against Steam when the same happens to PSN and Xbox Live. It is only a draw back is Steam is the only one that has that issue.

5. Steam allows pre-release downloads on 99.9% of titles. If I am not mistaken, several of my friends have already downloaded Skyrim as its download started on the 9th.

I hope that addressed the concerns you have with Steam. I am not one to try and convince people to use something just because I do. I love Steam for various reasons, many not listed above. one thing I will say is I don't like have dozens of boxes and disks laying around taking up space in my room when I will only use them once. It is a waste of plastic and space.